Jones is now in the GOAT talk, so let's compare his record and career to GSP and see how stacks up.
Before their UFC careers, GSP (5-0) had already had some good wins. A win over Ivan Menjivar, Justin Bruckmann, Travis Galbraith, Thomas Denny and Pete Spratt, all of which had decent records. GSP literally never had an easy fight in his career.
Before the UFC Jones (6-0) mostly fought .500 fighters, none of which are really known except maybe Carlos Eduardo.
GSP fought vastly superior competition early in their careers. Now on to the UFC where I'll argue all top 5 of GSP's wins are better than Jones.
Georges St. Pierre
Johhny Hendricks
Nick Diaz
Carlos Condit
Jake Shields
Josh Koscheck
Dan Hardy
Thiago Alves
BJ Penn
Jon Fitch
Matt Serra
Matt Hughes
Josh Koscheck
Matt Hughes
BJ Penn
Sean Sherk
Frank Trigg
Jason Miller
Jay Heiron
Karo Parisyan
Jon Jones
Daniel Cormier
Glover Texeira
Alexander Gustaffson
Chael Sonnen
Vitor Belfort
Rashad Evans
Lyoto Machida
Quinton Jackson
Shogun Rua
Ryan Bader
Vladimir Matyushenko
Brandon Vera
Jake Obrian
Stephan Bonnar
Andre Gusmao
Let's take their top 5 wins each. (subjective of course)
GSP
Hughes 2
BJ Penn 2
Hughes 3
BJ Penn 1
Jake Shields
Jones
Cormier
Shogun
Lyoto
Rashad
Jackson
1)
Hughes was the reigning champ and at the height of his stardom when GSP beat him for the belt. I consider this GSP's best win. I would say a win over Cormier is comparable, as a former Olympian and undefeated fighter at 2 weight classes, but ultimately what is the better win? Probably a guy who was the reigning defending champion at the time, and top p4p fighter, Hughes.
Hughes 1 > Cormier
2)
Now again this is subjective but I chose Shogun as Jones 2nd best win. Shogun was the champion at the time and had just beaten Machida. Shogun was on top in pride for a long time and now the UFC champ, a good win for Jones.
However, GSP fought BJ Penn for the 2nd time, a superfight, champion vs champion, prime vs prime. Penn was on winning streak having just cemented his place as greatest lightweight of all time and was eager to move back up and fight GSP again after giving him a very close first fight.
So I have to go with the superfight of course, champion vs champion, BJ Penn vs GSP 2, one of the most anticipated fights of all time.
Penn 2 > Shogun
3)
I chose Lyoto as Bones 3rd best win, former champion, very skilled fighter and looked unbeatable for a period of time.
For GSP I chose the 3rd Hughes fight. The cap to the trilogy against the greatest WW of all time (at the time) Matt Hughes.
I have to chose Hughes as the bigger fight. It was all tied up 1-1 and they had a settle to score all the chips were on the line in this one. This was a another huge fight in terms of anticipation as well.
Hughes 3 > Lyoto Machida
4)
I chose BJ Penn 1 for GSP. This was BJ Penns return to the UFC, he was known as the former champ who steam rolled Hughes and Gomi. He had a ton of hype behind him back then as I'm sure you all know.
For Bones I chose Rashad. He was a former champion and training partner to Bones, and just overall a well rounded opponent.
I have to chose Penn 1 as the better win. Penn just had an aura back then that few fighters had, and he was considered a top p4p fighter for so long.
BJ Penn 1 > Rashad
5)
I chose Quinton Jackson at Jones 5th best win. He was the former champion and known as a durable test for anyone.
For GSP I chose Shields. He was a top p4p fighter at the time, with a win over Hendo, former SF champ and on a huge winning streak at the time.
I pick Shields who was on a tear with top 10 wins in 2 divisions and a huge winning streak.
As you may have noticed I left Gus off the list, as well as Hendricks and other good fighters.
Even though Gus may be one of the best or possibly the best fighter that Jones has fought, he hasn't really accomplished some of the things that the other fighters have that Jones has beat. The Jones fight was really what put Gustafson on the map and before that many people didn't really think that much about him, and he doesn't have that many top wins. I love Gus but how can I call him a better win then former champions when he has never been a champion and has very few top wins.
The same thing could be said about Jon Fitch. He was one of the toughest fights GSP had, was on a huge winning streak, but I can't put him on the list because GSP has wins over guys who have accomplished more in their careers.
Now that we're done looking at the top 5, let's look at the rest of the wins.
Gus, Glover, Sonnen, Belfort, Bader are Bones next top wins.
Fitch, Hendricks, Condit, Diaz, Alves are GSP's (imo)
I think those lists are pretty well matched but I give a slight edge to GSP. Love gus but he has never gone on a 7 fight winning streak like fitch did, as not ranked top 2 forever like fitch was. Hendricks over Glover too.. Diaz and Alves are better wins than Belfort/Sonnen at 205, and Alves over Bader.
Now we've looked at the top 10 wins of each guy, what is left?
Bones: Vladimir Matyushenko, Brandon Vera, Stephen Bonnar, Jake Obrian, Andre Gusmao
GSP: Karo Parisyan, Jay Heiron, Jason Miller, Sean Sherk, Frank Trigg, Josh Koscheck (2x), Matt Serra, Dan Hardy
The rest of the best wins goes to GSP without question.
So in conclusion. GSP has better top 5 wins, top 10 wins, and better wins in general and a much tougher early career.
Before their UFC careers, GSP (5-0) had already had some good wins. A win over Ivan Menjivar, Justin Bruckmann, Travis Galbraith, Thomas Denny and Pete Spratt, all of which had decent records. GSP literally never had an easy fight in his career.
Before the UFC Jones (6-0) mostly fought .500 fighters, none of which are really known except maybe Carlos Eduardo.
GSP fought vastly superior competition early in their careers. Now on to the UFC where I'll argue all top 5 of GSP's wins are better than Jones.
Georges St. Pierre
Johhny Hendricks
Nick Diaz
Carlos Condit
Jake Shields
Josh Koscheck
Dan Hardy
Thiago Alves
BJ Penn
Jon Fitch
Matt Serra
Matt Hughes
Josh Koscheck
Matt Hughes
BJ Penn
Sean Sherk
Frank Trigg
Jason Miller
Jay Heiron
Karo Parisyan
Jon Jones
Daniel Cormier
Glover Texeira
Alexander Gustaffson
Chael Sonnen
Vitor Belfort
Rashad Evans
Lyoto Machida
Quinton Jackson
Shogun Rua
Ryan Bader
Vladimir Matyushenko
Brandon Vera
Jake Obrian
Stephan Bonnar
Andre Gusmao
Let's take their top 5 wins each. (subjective of course)
GSP
Hughes 2
BJ Penn 2
Hughes 3
BJ Penn 1
Jake Shields
Jones
Cormier
Shogun
Lyoto
Rashad
Jackson
1)
Hughes was the reigning champ and at the height of his stardom when GSP beat him for the belt. I consider this GSP's best win. I would say a win over Cormier is comparable, as a former Olympian and undefeated fighter at 2 weight classes, but ultimately what is the better win? Probably a guy who was the reigning defending champion at the time, and top p4p fighter, Hughes.
Hughes 1 > Cormier
2)
Now again this is subjective but I chose Shogun as Jones 2nd best win. Shogun was the champion at the time and had just beaten Machida. Shogun was on top in pride for a long time and now the UFC champ, a good win for Jones.
However, GSP fought BJ Penn for the 2nd time, a superfight, champion vs champion, prime vs prime. Penn was on winning streak having just cemented his place as greatest lightweight of all time and was eager to move back up and fight GSP again after giving him a very close first fight.
So I have to go with the superfight of course, champion vs champion, BJ Penn vs GSP 2, one of the most anticipated fights of all time.
Penn 2 > Shogun
3)
I chose Lyoto as Bones 3rd best win, former champion, very skilled fighter and looked unbeatable for a period of time.
For GSP I chose the 3rd Hughes fight. The cap to the trilogy against the greatest WW of all time (at the time) Matt Hughes.
I have to chose Hughes as the bigger fight. It was all tied up 1-1 and they had a settle to score all the chips were on the line in this one. This was a another huge fight in terms of anticipation as well.
Hughes 3 > Lyoto Machida
4)
I chose BJ Penn 1 for GSP. This was BJ Penns return to the UFC, he was known as the former champ who steam rolled Hughes and Gomi. He had a ton of hype behind him back then as I'm sure you all know.
For Bones I chose Rashad. He was a former champion and training partner to Bones, and just overall a well rounded opponent.
I have to chose Penn 1 as the better win. Penn just had an aura back then that few fighters had, and he was considered a top p4p fighter for so long.
BJ Penn 1 > Rashad
5)
I chose Quinton Jackson at Jones 5th best win. He was the former champion and known as a durable test for anyone.
For GSP I chose Shields. He was a top p4p fighter at the time, with a win over Hendo, former SF champ and on a huge winning streak at the time.
I pick Shields who was on a tear with top 10 wins in 2 divisions and a huge winning streak.
As you may have noticed I left Gus off the list, as well as Hendricks and other good fighters.
Even though Gus may be one of the best or possibly the best fighter that Jones has fought, he hasn't really accomplished some of the things that the other fighters have that Jones has beat. The Jones fight was really what put Gustafson on the map and before that many people didn't really think that much about him, and he doesn't have that many top wins. I love Gus but how can I call him a better win then former champions when he has never been a champion and has very few top wins.
The same thing could be said about Jon Fitch. He was one of the toughest fights GSP had, was on a huge winning streak, but I can't put him on the list because GSP has wins over guys who have accomplished more in their careers.
Now that we're done looking at the top 5, let's look at the rest of the wins.
Gus, Glover, Sonnen, Belfort, Bader are Bones next top wins.
Fitch, Hendricks, Condit, Diaz, Alves are GSP's (imo)
I think those lists are pretty well matched but I give a slight edge to GSP. Love gus but he has never gone on a 7 fight winning streak like fitch did, as not ranked top 2 forever like fitch was. Hendricks over Glover too.. Diaz and Alves are better wins than Belfort/Sonnen at 205, and Alves over Bader.
Now we've looked at the top 10 wins of each guy, what is left?
Bones: Vladimir Matyushenko, Brandon Vera, Stephen Bonnar, Jake Obrian, Andre Gusmao
GSP: Karo Parisyan, Jay Heiron, Jason Miller, Sean Sherk, Frank Trigg, Josh Koscheck (2x), Matt Serra, Dan Hardy
The rest of the best wins goes to GSP without question.
So in conclusion. GSP has better top 5 wins, top 10 wins, and better wins in general and a much tougher early career.
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